I have been guiding since 1998 around the Fergus Falls, MN area and have come to know the flight of the Canada geese in my area.
I was born and raised Fergus Falls, MN. My family and I have lived here for our entire lives. I grew up hunting with my father. He started me out at the young age of 6. I remember shooting my first duck near the Orwell Dam area state wildlife area. From there on out my love for waterfowling has just bloomed. I hunt every chance I get.
When I was younger, I would skip school after i got my driving license just to shoot ducks.
I joined the USMC right after the first Gulf war. I served my country for 4 yrs overseas missing 4 seasons of duck and goose hunting. Let me tell you when I got out of the service all I wanted to do was hunt!!!
It wasn't until that year (1996) that I started hunting fields for geese. A friend of mine introduced me to Ron Wienike who at the time was a professional call maker of the "Ganderland'r" Flute goose call. I used that for 2 years until I ran across a Tim Grounds half-breed short reed goose call. It took me a bit to learn the short reed, but from there on out it was on.
Over the years I have guided for numerous guide service between Minnesota, Texas, Missouri, South Dakota, and Iowa. I have hunted the Peanut fields of West-Texas Since 1999, Glacial Lakes of South Dakota (Desmet area) Since 2002, and the Loess Bluffs (Squaw Creek) Missouri river valley of Mound City, MO. Since 2001. I use all the techniques, flagging, motion decoys, short reed calls and flutes.... We take pride in what we do and how we hunt. I am a stickler for detail. We lease specific fields all year long, and we will day lease as to keep on the birds later in the season. I decided in 1998... Why not guide for a living, thus Banded Gand'r Outfitters was born!!!
We have been hunting Spring Snows in the Mound City, MO area since 2002 now. I first started hunting Snow Geese in North Dakota, and Nebraska hunting with my buddies. I was lucky enough to know the local Northwind decoy company when it was based here in Fergus Falls, MN I started out with just a few hundred windsocks. I have sewn over 15,000 windsock on my machine, and custom painted them all. To me, it is a satisfaction knowing I am hunting over something I made.
I shot my first snow goose over these decoys south of Oaks, ND. Since then it has just become an obsession for me. From here on out I went to Nebraska with a good friend of mine. He introduced me to the West Texas area, and this is how it all started! After 2 years of guiding for snows in Northwest Missouri, I ventured north into South Dakota to extend my thirst for hunting these white devils.
I now offer hunts in 5 states: Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, South Dakota, and Minnesota
